Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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100. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide an update in respect of the current status of Erasmus+ programmes; his plans for a funding scheme to support third level students studying in the Republic of Ireland to participate in educational visits in Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55700/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Erasmus+ is the EU's programme (2021 - 2027) to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe. It has an estimated budget of €26.2 billion. This is nearly double the funding compared to its predecessor programme.

The 2021-2027 programme places a strong focus on social inclusion, the green and digital transitions, and promoting young people’s participation in democratic life.  It supports priorities and activities set out in the European Education Area, Digital Education Action Plan and the European Skills Agenda. The programme also supports the European Pillar of Social Rights; implements the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027 and develops the European dimension in sport.

Reflecting the Irish Government’s commitment to the people of Northern Ireland, work is underway to develop a scheme to allow eligible students from HEIs in Northern Ireland to continue participating in Erasmus+ on the basis of temporary registration at Irish HEIs.

The Irish Government was advised by Northern Ireland HEIs that their participation in the Erasmus was further extended to May 2023, arising from the impact of the Covid -19 pandemic.  The planned scheme will now be prepared for implementation in September 2023.

As the Erasmus+ National Agency for Ireland, the HEA facilitated the extension of agreements to 36 months which means that Irish HEIs will be able to send and receive students and staff to the UK until May 2023.  For future years, Irish HEIs at their discretion may allocate up to 20% of their funding student and teacher mobility to international credit mobility to support students to travel to non-programme countries, including the United Kingdom.